Larger Than Life
by Black Wolf Ranger
Summary: James Diamond has always been told he had to become a singing star by his father. The idea sticks into his head all the way into his twenties. When he finally gets an opportunity to become one, he'll do his best, but the mysterious Kendall Knight worries him and may become a road block in his path. Eventual slash, but not for a while. Rated M for language mostly.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay so this idea came to me in a dream (as usual) and I decided to write it down for now. I don't know if I'll continue writing in it or not. It all depends what the reviews and follows look like after I post a few chapters. Hopefully you guys like it.I DO NOT OWN BIG TIME RUSH or the song that I got the title from, which is The Backstreet Boys. I'm just a fan of music and writing.  
**

**Warning: This story will be rated M for a reason, but right now, the only thing in this chapter that will happen is brief bad language. **

* * *

Ch.1

"Welcome everyone, to the first ever Larger than Life competition!" A young man with sandy blonde hair and wearing the biggest grin he could possibly muster on his face spoke for the cameras into a black microphone. "I'm your host, Jett Stetson, and we're here at the fabulous Palm Woods, a Hollywood complex for the future famous, for what I'm pretty sure is the biggest moment of these boys lives."

What Jett was referring to was the line of four boys in front of the entrance of the Palm Woods. As Jett continued to explain what the competition was to the cameras that were filming him, most of the boys began to tune out whatever Jett was saying, mostly out of fear, except for two boys.

One of the boys generally had no interest in what Jett had to say, because he thought he already knew anything. The other however, was giving himself an internal pep talk.

_You're going to win this James…you have to win this…_

James Diamond considered himself to be a good looking human being. He had short, slightly spiked, yet controlled hair that he would focus a lot of time fixing, a tall stature, slim figure, and brown eyes. He had been waiting for an opportunity like the Larger than Life competition to happen to him for a long time. After failing at numerous auditions and not impressing any music producer he had come across, he was so grateful that someone finally decided to take a chance on him, even if it was Arthur Griffin, one of the most powerful CEO's in the country.

Even though Griffin, as everyone referred to him by last name only, did not know much about music himself, he was the head of Rocque records. Not even mega producer, Gustavo Rocque, had as much power as him. Because of this, Griffin decided to make a competition show in order to get more money from viewers who would eventually call, or text a number to vote on who should work with Gustavo and become Griffin's next big thing.

James needed this show. He needed the exposure and out of everyone who auditioned in Hollywood, James was one of the top four, of whom Jett was announcing. James was worried about the other three guys he had to compete against. He barely even got a glance at them when they arrived to the Palm Woods. However, he put on a front as if he was already better than everyone else, and he had to. He could not let anyone see that he was internally freaking out. This show was a big deal and he needed to win in order to prove everyone who ever told him he was terrible or worse that they were wrong.

_I'm not garbage…I am worth something…I do have talent…You've got this James…You've got this…You're going to win._

"And now, this guy was a model, so girls, get ready to scream for the pretty boy with the amazing voice, James Diamond!"

James nearly missed his introduction due to all of his internal talking. As he noticed the cameras zoom in on him, he quickly flashed them a smile and winked. "Hope you ladies vote for me."

"Oh please." He heard the young man next to him mutter.

"Cut!" Yelled the director of the film session. "Great job James, now Jett introduce the last guy so we can get out of here. Today's just too damn hot to be spending it filming for long."

James turned to his right to notice the young man who heckled at him. It was the first time he actually got a good look at one of his competitors. He was almost as tall as him, only short by a couple of inches. He was dressed in all black, which was weird considering how hot the day was. His hair was the color of honey, a rich, dark golden color and his eyes were the brightest green James had ever seen as they sparkled in the sunlight. James began to panic a little when he observed this one person in the competition. James started worrying again, and looked quickly at the other two boys to his left. None of them were ugly and even though he was the only one he knew of to have been a model in Hollywood, he still felt a little uneasy and considering the only person who ever thought his voice was really good was his father, James began to think that winning was going to be a challenge.

James kept a cool exterior, while a thousand and one thoughts traveled through his mind. His eyes moved back to the last boy on his right. He seemed to not really care about anything that was going on. However he did notice James staring at him. "What?" He asked annoyed. James merely averted his eyes. "Whatever." The boy grumbled and folded his arms.

"Okay, are we ready?" The director asked, and nobody said anything. "Good, now back to you Jett in 3…2…" The director pointed to the sandy blonde and he flashed another cheesy grin for the camera.

"Okay, and last but not least, is the mysterious Kendall Knight!" Jett cheered and the cameras zoomed into Kendall. He eyed them suspiciously. Kendall did not speak causing James to stare at him again. "Don't you have anything to say to the voters at home Kendall?"

The cameras then got closer to Kendall and he pushed them back, "Get the fuck away from me!" He growled. James's eyes widen and the other two looked at Kendall as well.

"Ooo! Looks like we've got a bad boy on our hands." Jett smirked.

"Cut! Great job Kendall, really angsty. I'm sure people will like that." The director smiled.

"Whatever." Kendall folded his arms again. "Are we done here?"

"Yep." The director nodded. "Griffin will meet you guys out here at 7 in the morning where we'll go to Roque records and film the singing portion and then the dancing portion and then people will have a week to vote and then we'll do the live results show!" The director said all cheery.

"Whatever." Kendall muttered and began to walk away to get his key to the room where the four of them would be staying.

"What's his deal?" Logan, one of James's competitors, questioned into the open air. He was short with dark brown hair and brown eyes.

"Don't know." Shrugged Carlos, the last of the top four. He had tan skin, dark hair and dark colored eyes.

"Well I know one thing." James muttered so low that only he could hear himself. "He's probably going to be my toughest competition."

"What was that?" Logan asked.

"Oh, nothing." James replied, putting on a smile. "I'm just looking forward to getting to know all of you as we compete."

"Well I know one thing." Logan stated as he folded his arms, "That Kendall guy is not looking forward to meeting any of us."


	2. Chapter 2

**Shout out to the first and only person to have favorited and followed this story already! You know who you are ;) Anyway, I'll post maybe a few more chapters if more people want this story to continue on, hopefully you guys who are reading like what you're reading so far! Please review if you can! It motivates me so much.**

**Warnings: REALLY BAD LANGUAGE if this bothers you, skip this chapter, or don't read this story because Kendall's going to have quite the potty mouth.**

* * *

Ch.2

James was curious about Kendall. Technically, he was curious about everyone in the competition, but he wanted to know everything he could learn about Kendall because he honestly felt the most threatened by him. Kendall did not seem to care about anything and also appeared to hate everyone, or at least anyone who tried to film him. James took his behavior as arrogance, and most people who were full of themselves usually were terrible, but considering Kendall was chosen to be a part of the top four, it made James believe that Kendall's carelessness meant that he knew he was good, and this scared James.

James thought back to when Jett introduced Kendall. All he said was that he was mysterious, meaning that he must not have put down a lot of information on his profile sheet when he auditioned and as James already noticed, Kendall did not talk much. Granted, nobody from the top four talked very much to him, but at least the other two talked to him a little bit. "See you inside." James spun around to see Logan and Carlos smile at him before the two talked amongst each other and followed in Kendall's footsteps by entering the inside of the Palm Woods.

As James studied them, it appeared that both Carlos and Logan seemed to have known each other before the competition started because with the little bit of eavesdropping James did, it sounded as if the two were catching up on each other's lives. Both Logan and Carlos did talk to James after Kendall stormed away, so James knew that getting to know them and finding out their strengths and weaknesses would be easier than they would be for Kendall.

James put on a determined face and walked inside the Palm Woods, talking to himself internally the whole way.

_You've got to win this James…Your father will be in the audience for the live show…you've got to do this for him…You've got to win this for him…He'd never forgive you if you get close, only to lose._

James was normally hard on himself because his father was always tough on him the second he discovered that James had, in his opinion, a good singing voice. He would always take him to singing competitions and auditions ever since James could remember. However, James never won any competition or won over any judge at an audition until he became one of the top four in the Larger Than Life competition that was currently being held. James was now twenty-two but started as a child, and seeing all the disappointment in his father's eyes made him feel bad about his abilities, and all the years of disappointment made James's father go slightly insane.

Even though James no longer lived with his father, he still had a hold on him. All those years of losing and disappointment can break a person and James was certainly broken inside, hence why he had to win the competition and work with Griffin and Gustavo. If he did not win, James would not know what to do or how to handle more failure and he did not know how his father would behave either.

_I have to win…I have to make the others lose…I can't lose again…I am not garbage…I do have talent…At least…I think I have talent…_

"What do you mean they can't stay?" The sound of yelling snapped James out of his thoughts. He realized that he had entered the lobby of the Palm Woods and saw that Kendall was the one doing the shouting.

Kendall was arguing with Mr. Bitters, the overweight Palm Woods manager who was behind the front desk in the lobby. He had grey hairs in the sides of his head, and it appeared as though Kendall was giving him a few more and a headache. "Mr. Knight, for the last time, you have to live in the apartment that was assigned to you, it's part of your living contract that Griffin arranged. You'll live with the three other contestants for about a week and then whoever wins can keep the apartment and can have whoever they want to live there as long as it's no more than five other people."

"Then why can't two more people stay at the apartment? That would make it six." Kendall informed.

"I'm sorry Mr. Knight, but I have to follow orders. Griffin's a very power man." Mr. Bitters told him not really meaning his apology.

"Griffin's paying the apartment fees isn't he?" Kendall inquired.

"Yep." Mr. Bitters really just wanted Kendall to go away.

"Fine, what if I pay for them to stay here and to be able to use the pool and gym and whatever else you have to offer here?" Kendall was actually begging as he negotiated.

"Rules are rules." Mr. Bitters explained, "Besides judging by your appearance, you can't afford to have two extra people stay with you unless you won the Larger Than Life competition."

Kendall let out an aggravated sigh, "Please Mr. Bitters you don't understand. I have to keep an eye on these people at all times. If not something really bad could happen!" Kendall was desperate.

"I don't care." Mr. Bitters started to walk away to go inside his office. "Have a Palm Woods day."

"No wait, Mr. Bitters, hear me out!" Kendall shouted, but Mr. Bitters slammed the door shut. Kendall glared at the door that said Mr. Bitters' office. "Oh yeah? Well just you wait till I win this competition you fat fuck, I'll remember this!"

James was in total shock. That was the most talking and emotion Kendall had ever shown since he met him. He watched Kendall get frustrated and kick the barrier around the front desk. James did not mean to overhear what Kendall and Mr. Bitters were talking about, but it appeared that Kendall really needed to help some people and get them close by. For some reason James felt bad for Kendall but secretly he hoped that this issue would make Kendall drop out of the competition. In the meantime he just continued to watch Kendall as he rested his back against the front desk and sighed. He began to notice the muscles in Kendall's arms and started to worry. It looked like he could really do some damage if he wanted to, so James made a mental note to try to not get on Kendall's bad side, even though he was sure he was already on it.

James swallowed his fear and decided to walk up to Kendall. After all, his plan was to be friendly to everyone and gain everyone's trust and then use it to crush the competition. It was not a nice plan, but James had to do everything he had to in order for him to win the contest. James walked up beside Kendall and leaned his back against the front desk next to him.

Kendall eyed James confused. "Man, this place sucks, doesn't it?" James told Kendall, using slightly harsher language he would normally use, hoping that it would make Kendall feel comfortable enough to talk to him. However, James's plan failed because Kendall merely made an annoyed noise and left. "Wait, where are you going?" James moved a couple of steps toward Kendall, but stopped when he actually spoke.

"I need to make a phone call." He said, still irked about everything around him.

"Well you don't need to walk away." James told him. "Maybe I can help with whatever's going on." James said, actually wanting to help, hoping that it would get him to know Kendall better.

Kendall stopped in his tracks and turned around to face James. "Look I know exactly who you are and I know better than to trust you."

James was confused as to what Kendall was talking about. "But we haven't even properly met. Here, I'll start." James extended his hand. "My name's James Diamond."

Kendall looked at James's hand for a while before ultimately swatting it away. "Look, I know all about guys like you, okay. You're all liars and deceivers. I can tell just by your face and by the way you were snooping in on my conversation with Bitters." Kendall smirked as James's eyes widen. "I knew it." He told him. "You're probably the most insecure mother fucker in this competition. Maybe even the whole world." Kendall chuckled. "You're all looks, but you know that that will eventually fade away, so what are you going to do then, tell me pretty boy."

James stuttered incoherent babble. Kendall was right; James was insecure and trying to deceive all of his competition. How did Kendall know all of this, and more importantly, why was he being so mean? Kendall shook his head at James and began to walk away when James suddenly shouted, "Oh yeah well I know all about you too!"

Kendall turned around curious. "Oh really? Enlighten me." He folded his arms.

James swallowed nervously. "Uh…"

"I'm waiting." Kendall smiled.

"Well, you think you're all high and mighty because you think you have a sliver of talent." James was trying to be mean back, but it was not really working. "But the whole 'I'm better than everyone else' thing is getting old. And dude, really, what's with all the swearing. Honestly, what does your mother think of that mouth?"

Kendall glared at James which scared him slightly. He ran up to James and pointed at him, fuming. "You leave my mother out of this! You don't know her and you don't know me so why don't you worry about that frail personality you have and walking, because that's all you're apparently good for Mr. Model!" Kendall walked past him, tapping his shoulder with his own as he left.

As Kendall walked away, James felt the need to say, "I do more than walk a runway you know!" James then sighed and put his hands on his head, realizing that was a stupid thing to say. He leaned his back against the front desk and stared at Kendall as he made his way to the pool area. James did not know how, but he knew one thing. Kendall Knight had to lose the Larger Than Life competition and James had to win, not only to prove it to all of the people who told him he was terrible over the years, but also to prove to Kendall that he was good for something and that Kendall was not as high and mighty as he thought he was.


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, so after weeks of writers block and debating on whether or not I'm going to continue this story, I got some inspiration! I really want to write a BTR fanfic so I'll continue with this for a while, even though not a lot of people are reading and commenting. However, to the people who are reading, favoring, following, and commenting, I cherish every single one of you! You have no idea how encouraging you guys are to me!**

* * *

Ch.3

James sighed feeling frustrated and decided it was best to just relax and try to forget about Kendall Knight. James turned around to face the front desk and rang the silver bell, hoping that Mr. Bitters would come out of his office. After one push of the bell, nothing happened. James ranged the bell another time and nothing happened again. On his third time, James began to ring the bell rapidly and multiple times.

James did not stop ringing the bell until after about a minute or so, when Mr. Bitters popped out his office door annoyed. "I told you Mr. Knight that I'm very busy and that I cannot-oh." When Mr. Bitters got a look at James he paused confused. "You're not Mr. Knight."

"No I'm not, and I wouldn't want to be." James muttered under his breath. It was not like James to be intentionally mean like that, but what Kendall had said to him made James angry and thoroughly dislike Kendall.

"Yeah, tell me about it." Mr. Bitters agreed. James's eyes widen. He did not want anyone to hear his mumbling. "That kid is a nutjob." Mr. Bitters spoke lowly, staring at Kendall off in the distance. James turned around to see that Kendall was in the outdoor pool area through the clear doors leading to it.

Kendall was yelling into a tiny red phone until it appeared the other person he was talking to hung up on him. When Kendall noticed this, he appeared to be angrier than before and almost threw his phone into the pool, but somehow restrained himself and put his phone away in his pocket. However, Kendall still needed to get rid of his rage so he pushed a random person into the pool that happened to have crossed his path and then stormed back into the lobby.

James and Mr. Bitters quickly turned to face each other, trying not to look at Kendall as he passed by, but James could not help himself for some reason and focused on his peripheral vision. Judging by what he saw, James was confused. As Kendall walked away, he appeared to be sad more than anything. This intrigued James and made him wonder more about Kendall. Maybe it was wrong to get mad at him. Maybe there was something Kendall was hiding, and James wanted to figure it out. Maybe it was the weakness he was trying to find. Maybe it was his advantage towards winning.

When Kendall left, Mr. Bitters let out a sigh of relief. "Oh good he's gone. I thought he wanted to talk to me again." Mr. Bitters shivered. "So, what can I help you with?"

James eyes the direction that Kendall walked. His eyes fixated on the hallway he disappeared into. "What's his deal?"

"What?"

"I mean, what's Mr. Knight's story? Do you know anything about him?" James questioned curiously.

"That is Palm Woods information and it is all confidential information!" Mr. Bitters acted as if he was appalled at what James asked. "But I could tell you for a price." He smirked and then rubbed his fingers together.

James was then the one who appeared to be appalled. "I'm not gonna pay you!" He shouted.

"Keep your voice down!" Mr. Bitters hushed. "And if you don't pay me, I guess you won't get that precious information you desperately want."

James rolled his eyes and sighed. "Fine." He said, digging into his pockets. He pulled out a five dollar bill and a coupon. "Here's a five, and a ticket for one free lemonade at Shemetzel Pretzel. Will that be enough?"

Mr. Bitters looked around to make sure no one was in the lobby to see this payment happen. He took the items and shoved them into his inside suit jacket pocket. "Okay, his name is Kendall Knight, he's one of the top four of that Larger than Life competition that's being held here and at Roque Records. There's very little information about him and he's trying to get two other people to live with him and the other contestants in apartment 2J."

"I already know all of that!" James shouted annoyed.

"Well then, I guess you just bought information you already knew." Mr. Bitters chuckled and was about to walk away when James stopped him.

"Wait. You've got to know something else about him right?" James was getting slightly desperate.

"I might." Mr. Bitters slinked back to the front, placed his hand on the desk, and asked for money.

James rolled his eyes again. He could not believe he was doing what he was doing, but he wanted to win the competition at any cost. He just did not know it would actually cost him cash. James dug into his pocket again and pulled out one dollar. He slammed it on the desk.

Mr. Bitters looked at the dollar pitifully. "That's it?" He questioned.

"It's all I've got on me right now!" James shouted. "So are you going to help me or not?"

Mr. Bitters rolled his eyes. "Fine." He said and accepted the crinkly dollar. "But you didn't hear this part from me." Mr. Bitters looked around the lobby again before lowering his voice. "We had a hard time accepting Mr. Knight into the lease agreement because he apparently did not audition in front of Griffin traditionally."

James shrugged his shoulders. "What do you mean by traditionally?"

"As in he never signed up for the competition, duh." Mr. Bitters told him, but James was still confused. Mr. Bitters let out an aggravated sigh. "Mr. Knight did not sign up for the competition, Griffin put him in it. He sang for Griffin after everything was calculated. Hence why there is not a lot of information about him. He never did the paper work. I hear talk there was only supposed to be a top three before he even showed up."

"Really?" James was in shock. "But why would Griffin allow that? I mean you had to audition in front of him in his office along with some of his trusted workers. You had to stand in line for hours. You had to fill out mountains of paperwork."

Mr. Bitters shrugged. "I don't know, and I don't care. I just hope that kid does not win the show or whatever, because I'll never hear the end of it. Now if you excuse me, I've got work to do." Mr. Bitters walked away happily with the little bit of cash he got in his pocket.

James was worried. It was as if all of his fears were coming true. _I was right…Kendall must be extremely good if he got to skip his way into the top four… _"But how did he get to sing for Griffin?"

"Dude, why are you talking to yourself?" James looked up to see Carlos looking at him strangely.

James just put on a smile and acted as if he did not just do that. After all, he could not give away his plan to people he was also thinking about defeating with the same plan. "Oh, no reason." James shrugged.

"You're weird." Carlos laughed. "Come on, Logan got our keys to the sweet apartment we're all supposed to be staying at for the next week!"

"Awesome!" James cheered along and followed Carlos to wherever he was leading him to. James continued to pretend to be excited about everything, but he could not help but think about Kendall. How was he able to cheat the system? And if he was able to get Griffin on his side already, did this mean that he would be able to cheat the competition? This worried James a lot. Did this mean that Kendall already won and he and the rest of the winners were just for show? James did not know, but he knew one thing, he was going to have to keep a close eye on Kendall.


	4. Chapter 4

**Because I have people begging me for the next chapter, I decided to find time in between work to make this. Hopefully it's good. Thank you to everyone who follows, favorites, and reviews. You are so encouraging! Thank you! **

**Warning: LANGUAGE!**

* * *

Ch.4

After a long elevator ride, Carlos led James to apartment 2J and stopped him once they reached the door. He turned to James before speaking. "Okay, in case you don't have a key, or you're locked out or something, I have concocted a secret knock so that we know it's one of the contestants and not some weirdo or Bitters." Carlos explained and then faced the door. "Now, watch very closely." After Carlos spoke, he did a series of rhythmic and complicated beats on the door.

James was impressed and saw that Carlos had musicality in his hands and feet because Carlos was dancing along to the beats he was creating. James made a mental note that Carlos was most likely a great dancer and would probably excel at the dancing portion of the competition.

James nervously bit his lower lip, starting to doubt his own dancing abilities when the door finally opened. "Okay, okay you don't have to repeat the secret knock over and over again!" Logan appeared in the doorway, very annoyed.

"What? It's fun to do." Carlos explained and Logan rolled his eyes.

"Well don't just stand there, come in."

Carlos ran into the apartment all excited, but James was more cautious, and slowly made his way inside.

James looked around the apartment once he was inside and he was amazed. "Whoa." The apartment was stored full of all the latest electronics, appliances, gear, furniture, games, and even a custom built yellow swirly slide in case a person did not feel like going down the steps. James was stunned for in his mind, the apartment was really cool. It would be the perfect place to live and if he won the competition he would be able to live in the apartment full time and he could be even further away from his father. "Wow, I mean wow."

"I know right?" Carlos said already up the balcony to use the swirly slide. "Coming down!" He shouted and dove head first down the slide. "That was fun!" He exclaimed once he was at the bottom.

"I think the swirly slide is a bit much." Logan stated. "I mean come on; we're all in our early twenties."

"Exactly." James agreed, even though he secretly wanted to try out the slide himself.

"Fun suckers." Carlos insulted at the two before walking away to plop himself down on a beanbag chair, arms crossed.

James smiled, and Logan rolled his eyes again. "He's such a child."

James chuckled. He inferred that Carlos was an impulsive, lively kind of person and that Logan was more of the logical, serious type. It was strange to James how the two seemed to have known each other before the competition. They were complete opposites. However, James stopped thinking about that and wondered how knowledgeable Logan was and if he could possibly give him any new information on Kendall Knight, James's biggest threat in the competition.

James relaxed his body and leaned back against the kitchen counter, close to the blue spinning chair that Logan was currently sitting in. "This place is pretty amazing right?" He decided to start off with small talk before he got to the subject he really wanted to talk about.

"Yeah, it was really nice of RCM CBT Global Net Sanyoid to provide this all for us for the week." Logan smiled, "And the winner gets to keep this apartment too."

"Wow, you said a mouthful." James chuckled.

"Yeah well that will be the company I'll technically be working for if I win this thing, so I've got to get used to saying it, just in case." Logan's eyes fell to the floor. "It's kind of a long shot for me though."

"Hey man, you never know. Anything is possible, right?" James put a comforting arm around Logan's shoulder. "It's all up to the voters anyway, right?" James also gave Logan a reassuring smile, but in reality James was smiling because he did not find Logan as much of a threat. Logan had low confidence, and probably did not have as strong abilities as James or the other contestants, or at least, that is what James hoped for anyway.

James eventually got Logan to give out a small smile. "Hey, you're right man. Anything's possible."

"Exactly." James gave him a hug and Carlos looked over at the two oddly.

"Man, it's nice to know this competition isn't making us all crazy and blood thirsty, trying to find everyone's secrets and weaknesses and whatever." Logan tapped James's shoulder when they broke out of their hug.

"Right." James's voice squeaked a little bit as he lied. He quickly coughed and changed the subject. "So, Logan, right? How do you know this guy?" He pointed to Carlos who was getting up to join the conversation. "I saw you guys talking and such after filming."

"Oh, we-"

"We were roommates." Logan quickly interjected, cutting off Carlos.

"Oh…okay." James was kind of confused and noticed that Carlos looked upset and folded his arms, staring at Logan.

"What? We were." Logan shrugged.

Carlos just waved his hand in the air as he walked back to the bean bag chair. "Forget it." He slumped down in the seat and avoided all eye contact with Logan.

"That was weird." James stated.

"He's always been weird." Logan explained. Carlos merely rolled his eyes.

"So, anyway, have you seen Kendall anywhere?" James questioned.

Logan gave James a weird look, "No, and I don't really want to know where he is. If you haven't noticed he's quite the rude human being, if he even is one." Logan shivered, "And that mouth of his," Logan made a noise of disgust. "I really hope he doesn't win. I mean I'd be fine if I didn't win, but that guy, just no."

"Tell me about it." James muttered, which confused Logan.

"Why did you want to know about Kendall?" Logan questioned.

James eyes widen, "Uh, so I can avoid him." He quickly thought of something to say. It was not really a lie either. James did not like Kendall and even though he wanted to know more about him, he did not really want to be near him.

"I know how you feel." Logan agreed. Suddenly, loud, thunderous knocking was heard against the door. "I wonder who that could be?" Logan questioned sarcastically, as if he already knew who was at the door.

James turned to face the door, having a similar idea.

The banging became louder and more frequent. "You need the secret knock!" Carlos shouted, but the knocking continued. "Hold on." Carlos was about to get up from his seat to teach the secret knock to who everyone assumed was Kendall, but before he could get to the door, it flung open and all anyone could see was Kendall with his boot covered foot make a kicking motion.

Instantly, Logan and Carlos freaked out. James was scared as well. Now he knew Kendall could do some serious damage if he wanted to. "Did you just break the door?" Logan shouted running to inspect it.

"Dude, I was going to open it for you." Carlos said annoyed.

"You took too long." Kendall merely huffed as he walked inside. "Oh, hey asshole." He directed to James, who merely glared back.

"You're the asshole here Kendall!" Logan shouted, still panicking. "The door's broken, now anyone can get in and you know it's going to cost a lot of money to fix this. Griffin and Bitters are not going to be happy about this!"

"Oops." Was all Kendall said, not really sorry.

Logan made an annoyed noise before turning to James. "You see what I mean."

"Why are you talking to him?" Kendall questioned Logan.

"Uh, James is my friend, unlike you." Logan responded.

"Yeah!" Carlos emphasized.

"Oh, so I see you've tricked the simpletons." Kendall sneered.

"What?" Logan questioned.

"Just don't be surprised when he stabs you in the back and then twists the blade." Kendall told them. "That's all guys like him do…stab." Kendall warned before walking away to claim a bedroom as his own.

"What is he talking about?" Logan addressed James.

"Are you going to stab us?" Carlos worried.

"Guys of course not!" James reassured them. Physically, James had not intentions of stabbing anyone, but metaphorically was a different story and Kendall was ruining all of James's plans. "You know everything that comes out of that guy's mouth is gibberish."

"Yeah, your right." Logan stated. "And you're way too nice to try to trick us or anything."

"Right…" James said, looking to the floor.

"Alright, it's getting late, and we've got to get up early in the morning." Logan stated.

"Yeah, only one problem." Carlos brought up.

"What?" James asked.

"Who's going to sleep in the room next to Kendall?"


	5. Chapter 5

**I know, I've been M.I.A for like ever. I tried to update last week, but I was busy. *sigh* Anyway, here's a new chapter, hopefully it makes sense and you guys like it. Thank you to all who support this story! **

* * *

Ch. 5

The apartment that the contestants had to share only had three bedrooms, and considering that Kendall already claimed one of the bedrooms as his own and nobody wanted to bunk with him, two of the rest of the contestants would have to share a room and then one would have to sleep in the room next to Kendall's. The three boys who had yet to pick which rooms they would sleep in and they were not happy about the situation at all.

Logan, thinking practically, decided that the group should draw straws and whoever got the shortest straw would have to sleep in the room next to Kendall's and the other two would bunk together in the other spare room.

The three picked their straws and James ended up being the unlucky one, as always in his life. While James wanted to know as much as he could about Kendall Knight, he wanted to do it privately, and as far away from Kendall as possible. Despite Kendall being on his mind all the time, James hated him. He hated the way Kendall acted as if he knew everything, and how Kendall acted as if he was better than everybody else, but most of all, he hated Kendall's mouth. His language was filthy, demeaning, and just plain rude. James tried to get either Carlos or Logan to switch rooms with him, but they both just laughed and said that sharing a room together was better than being anywhere near Kendall. So reluctantly, James went to bed in the room next to Kendall's, or rather tried to sleep.

James lay wide awake in his bed for a long time. He tried everything he could do to fall asleep, like burying his head under his pillow and covers, but he could not sleep for Kendall was being too distracting.

At first, Kendall was surprisingly quiet for the first hour James tried to sleep and he could not sleep right away simply out of excitement and nervousness about dancing in the morning. However, after that hour passed, James could hear muffled shouting coming from one of the blue painted walls of his room. He tried to ignore it by shutting his eyes and trying to sleep, but the shouting would only get louder, keeping James up. This went on for another hour, after that, Kendall had stopped shouted and proceeded to thrash about in his room and break things, or at least, that is what it sounded like to James.

When the trashing and destruction went on for another hour, James got fed up and grabbed his pillow and covers and left his room to sleep on the long, orange couch that occupied the living area, grumbling the whole way over there.

James tried to make himself comfortable on the couch, but it was hard, not soft and cushiony like the bed RCM CBT Global Net Sanyoid had provided for him. James tossed and turned on the orange couch. After a half hour he was beginning to think that the floor would be more comfortable, when he suddenly heard a loud crash. James jolted upward, slightly scared that an intruder broke in, which would not have been hard considering the front door was broken thanks to Kendall.

James got off the couch and walked around the living room cautiously. He made his way over to the hallway where his and Kendall's rooms were located. He entered his room first and saw that none of his clothes were stolen or any of his things were gone. From there he was about to check the bathroom on the opposite side, when he heard a similar crash coming from Kendall's room.

James went from scared to incredibly mad. He stormed over to Kendall's room door. He was about to slam his fist down on Kendall's door and demand him to stop his destructive behavior when he stopped himself for he heard something strange. James put his ear close to the door to hear soft sobbing on the other side. Was Kendall crying? James could not believe what he was hearing, but it had to be true. Someone was crying on the other side of Kendall's door and nobody else was in his room, at least not that James knew of.

James sat down with his back against the door perplexed. Why would Kendall be crying? Kendall acted as if he had a heart of stone and as if he only had two emotions, either angry or bored. However James was definitely hearing soft cries, unless he was hallucinating from lack of sleep. "What the-" James did not even know what to say this was so shocking to him.

As James sat down he noticed that the door handle was slowly turning. Quickly, he ran back into the living area before the door opened. James let out a breath as he stood next to the couch. "That was close." He stated softly.

James assumed that Kendall was coming out of his room to use the bathroom, but he was surprised when he faced the open area and saw Kendall walking over to the kitchen, which was connected to the living area, and putting on the same black, short sleeve shirt he was wearing earlier at the same time. As Kendall looked at the see through refrigerator, James stared at Kendall's arms. They were sculpted and muscular, similar to his own. James was being to think that he could possibly take on Kendall in case they ever got into a scuffle due to their hatred for each other. However, it was quite obvious Kendall could do more damage than James could do due to all of the broken things lying around the apartment. However, James had to swallow his fear and confront Kendall about his behavior because he could not do another night like the one he was experiencing.

Slowly, James made his way over to Kendall. Kendall had abandoned looking at the fridge and went to grab paper towels. He took a sheet and turned around. When he saw James behind him he jumped and even screamed a bit, putting a hand over his heart.

James was confused and even genuinely concerned when he saw Kendall. His eyes were red and puffy, as if Kendall was crying longer than what James had heard. On top of that, James saw the hand Kendall was using to clutch his chest. It was red, purple, and bloody. James did not know what to stare at. Kendall's frightened expression or his messed up hand. Both were very puzzling to him.

When Kendall realized that it was James who was staring at him, his expression quickly changed. He coughed, and went straight into his glare he normally had on when he was around James. He wiped his eyes. "What do you want ass munch?"

"Ass munch?" James repeated strangely, expecting a better insult from Kendall, who was normally just full of them.

"Yeah, it's like ass kisser, but worse." Kendall explained.

"I kind of figured." James answered.

"Yeah, well it's two-fifteen in the morning." Kendall grumbled. He turned around to open the see through refrigerator, but quickly slammed the doors shut when he could not find what he was looking for. "Dammit where the hell is the ice?" He screamed.

Slowly, James opened the bottom drawer of the refrigerator and pulled out a bag of frozen vegetables. "Here, use this." James replied softly. Kendall merely snatched the bag out of James's hand and placed it on his knuckles after wiping some of the blood off with the paper towel. He did not say anything, he just stared at James. James merely continued to look at Kendall in pity. Judging by all the shouting he did with Bitters and on the phone and all the thrashing he had been doing, James inferred that Kendall was going through a lot. Surprisingly enough however, something that could possibly badly affect Kendall and even possibly make him drop out of the competition, did not bring joy to James. Instead he was concerned, and he was confused as to why.

Kendall's eyes would shift from James to his bloody hand every once in a while. "What pretty boy?" Kendall sneered.

"Nothing, it's just," James paused for a little while, "are you okay?"

"What do you mean?" Kendall snapped.

"It's just you looked like you were having a heart attack when you saw me a little while ago."

Kendall was taken a little at back, surprised that James noticed. He quickly though of an insult though. "Well, you should see yourself at night without all that shit you put in your hair and face." Kendall chuckled.

James ignored his comment and walked closer to Kendall, surprising him. "How's your hand?" James reached out his own hands, trying to remove the frozen vegetables bag away from Kendall's balled fist.

Kendall backed away. "The fuck? Oh I get it. You're trying to trick me again. You're gonna act all nice and helpful to me now, but then use my trust against me, like how you're trying to play the others. Well that shit ain't going to work on me." Kendall made his statement very clear.

"Just let me see your hand." James instructed.

"No." Kendall shouted.

"Kendall, you're bleeding everywhere!" James practically begged to see his hand.

Kendall looked at his hand, and then back to James. Kendall took a minute to think for a while and slowly removed the frozen vegetables bag away from his bloody knuckles. James let out a sigh of relief. "Good, now let me see your ha-"

Before James could finish his sentence, Kendall threw the bag of vegetables at him. James barely caught the bloody, melting bag. "What are you doing?"

"Yeah right, like I'm going to trust you. All you guys are the same! You act all nice and shit and then when I least expect it, you'll ruin everything for me. Just stay away from me James, go get your beauty rest or something."

James was so surprised that Kendall did not call him an insulting name that he almost missed Kendall walk past him. "Wait, where are you going?" James asked as Kendall headed out the door.

"Away from you!" Was all Kendall merely said before storming away. He would have slammed the door too, but considering it was broken the effect would not have worked.

James stared at the doorway confused. "What just happened?" He asked himself, wondering why he cared about anything Kendall did or happened to him. It was all strange to him. Maybe he was just concerned because Kendall was acting differently than he normally did. Everything sounded forced to James, as if he was pretending to hate everything and everyone.

"What is going on out here?" James turned away from the door to see Logan was outside of his room and he was yawning. "It's almost two-thirty in the morning!"

"Honestly," James started, "I don't know."

"Where's Kendall?" Logan asked. "I swore I heard his voice too." Logan then noticed the bloody bag of melting frozen vegetables. "Oh God, did you two get into a fight?"

"Not physically." James answered.

"Well, where is Kendall?" Logan questioned.

James shrugged, "Where's Carlos?" He retaliated.

"Oh, that guy sleeps like a rock." Logan chuckled slightly, before quickly stopping. He sighed, "Well we better go back to sleep and forget about Kendall. We've got a big day ahead of us." Logan patted James's arm and went back into his room.

"Yeah…" James nodded and left to go to his room, trying to forget everything that had just happened between him and Kendall.


	6. Chapter 6

**Well now that Big Time Rush the show is over, I don't know if anyone will still read this story, but then again not many people are reading it to start with. Oh well, I'm not ending it because I know some of you readers have a really high demand for this story so I'll keep writing in it. Special thanks to all of those who favorite, review and follow. This incredibly long chapter is dedicated to you!**

* * *

Ch. 6

James woke up that morning to the sound of his cell phone buzzing on the night stand beside his bed. He did not get a good night sleep at all.

James stayed up most of the night after Kendall left the apartment. He could not help but think about him. Kendall behaved rather strangely, if James could even consider it to be strange behavior for Kendall. After all, he had only known the guy for about half a day, but from what he did know, Kendall acted oddly when he confronted him in the kitchen last night. It was as if he was scared and nervous about something and his hand was bleeding. The thrashing might not have been weird behavior for Kendall, but his emotions were different then how he presented himself when they met. James could not help but be concerned and he was confused by it.

Because of all of this, James only got about one hour of sleep and he groaned loudly when he picked up his phone and saw who it was. "What do you want dad?" He said when he answered.

"Oh I'm sorry, are you about to go dance for the cameras?" James's father apologized.

James scratched the back of his head through his undone, short hair. "What are you talking about?" He yawned.

"Oh no," James's father's voice went from excited to disappointed in an instant. "You overslept didn't you?"

"What? No. My alarm hasn't gone off yet so it's nowhere near seven o'clock." James told his father. All he did was sigh in response. "What? What's wrong dad?" James questioned.

James's father sighed again before saying in a stern voice, "Check your phone."

"What? It's only-" James paused when he hit a button on his cell phone and his screen lit up. His eyes widen when he saw the time. Seven twenty-five flashed before his eyes. James could not believe it. He forgot to set up his phone alarm.

James started to panic. The contestants in the Larger Than Life competition were supposed to meet Griffin outside of the Palm Woods apartments at seven in the morning. Twenty-five minutes had passed since that time. James quickly dropped his phone and ran to the window in his room. There was no limousine parked in front of the Palm Woods. No Griffin. No one.

James was freaking out, believing that he was left behind. He quickly started grabbing clothes out of his suitcase and frantically started changing shorts and putting a shirt over his tank top.

"James." James ignored the soft voice coming from his phone as he began putting socks on. "James…" His father's voice got louder and more annoyed. James chose to ignore it as he tied sneakers to his feet. "James!" His father shouted so loud it was as if the phone was on speaker.

James decided to pick up the phone. "What dad? I've got to get to Roque records right now!" He shouted.

"Don't bother!" His father shouted right back at him. "You blew your chance, just like you always do."

"But dad I-"

"Save it son." James's father told him before letting out an aggravated sigh. "You know I've tried. I've tried to make our dreams come true when you were a kid. I took you to all of those auditions. I paid for all those lessons. I made you practice for hours and hours. I did everything so that you could become a singer and you've failed me every time."

"But maybe I can still-" James was interrupted again.

"No you can't still make it. James, listen to me. I want you to become a star just as much as you do, but you don't help yourself. You've bombed every audition you've ever done and now, when you finally get a chance to do something that could make your dreams come true, you fail again."

James was starting to feel really bad about himself and his eyes started to get a little teary. "Dad I'm trying."

"Obviously not hard enough." James's father told him sternly. "You know what? Maybe you are garbage."

"No I'm not." James muttered, a few tears falling from his cheeks.

"What, are you crying? Remember what used to happen when you whined and cried about me being too harsh on you for making you practice so much?" James's father questioned.

"Well I'm lucky I'm not living with you anymore, huh?" James spat and then instantly regretted saying that once the words left his lips.

"Oh that's what you think. I'm coming over to that Palm Woods you're staying at to pick you up, then we're going to your apartment to get your things. You're going to live with me again and we obviously need to work on your drive and practice even harder than we did before." James father said sternly.

James sighed. He felt powerless, but in his mind, his father did have a point. He still had not gotten far in his singing career, and he either needed to work harder or just stop because he was, as many judges have told him in the past, talentless. James already started to believe that he was not all that talented, but he still held on to a sliver of hope. "Well maybe they won't make me leave the competition."

James father laughed. "Ha, that's rich." James just looked to the floor. "Now pack your things. I'll be there soon."

James was about to respond when he heard laughter coming from outside his room. It did not sound like any of the voices of the other residents. "Dad…I'll call you back, okay? I've got to check something out." James ended his call before his father could say another word.

Cautiously, James opened his door and walked over to the living room, not sure of what to expect. He knew he heard voices coming from outside of his room and he was beginning to wonder if wandering around alone was such a smart idea.

James took small steps, taking what felt like an eternity to make it to the living room, but when he got there he was confused.

The living room was full of people. The other contestants, including Kendall, were there, Jett, the host of the competition, and Griffin were all in either the living room or kitchen area. Everyone was laughing and chatting amongst each other, except for Kendall, who was sitting close to the kitchen counter, sipping on what appeared to have been tea judging by the string popping over the top of the blue mug he was sipping on.

James looked around the room extremely puzzled. "What's going on here?"

"Ah!" Griffin screamed in shock when he saw James.

For a while Griffin could not tell who he was until Logan stated, "That's James."

"Oh, right." Griffin said calming himself down. "You just look so different in the morning without your hair all styled, your face shaven, and your eye drops." Kendall smirked at Griffin's comment.

"That's why you'll never see me not camera ready." Jett chuckled as did Griffin.

"Eye drops?" James was confused.

"Your eyes are red dude." Carlos explained.

James just ran a hand through his hair, still trying to comprehend everything that was going on. "Why is everyone here? It's way past seven. I thought you all left me."

"Oh trust me, I thought about it." Griffin explained. "But we had to find this one." He pointed to Kendall, who was still smirking. "Mr. bad boy over there decided to go out for a stroll last night." James noticed Kendall at that point. He quickly looked at his hand. It was all bandaged up with white wrappings.

"But I showed up just before seven." Kendall pointed out.

"With ten seconds to spare." Logan muttered, causing Kendall to glare at him.

"Yes, and still managed to nearly destroy this whole apartment and get hurt." Griffin said.

"Oh, no, I did that last night." Kendall made very clear.

"Whatever." Griffin stated. "The point is that you're very dangerous and because of that-"

"He will be leaving the competition?" James asked in a hopeful tone. Both Logan and Carlos looked hopeful as well.

"No," Griffin quickly shot them down, "I was going to say, it's exciting."

"What?" Logan blurted out. "But he destroyed his room and broke the door!"

"Yes, and Kendall made it very clear that he's the bad boy in this competition and bad boys like breaking things." Griffin smiled.

"That is true." Jett added.

Suddenly, a camera man whizzed past James and ran up to Griffin. "Yo, I got the shots of all the damage like you wanted." He told him.

"Excellent." Griffin smiled a big grin before turning to James, who was still just as confused as he was before, but also with a little bit of disappointment. "Now you," Griffin started "We've already got one bad boy here, we don't need another. It's bad for business, so show up on time next time." James nodded when Griffin finished. "Okay Jason, go get ready."

"Actually it's James." James corrected.

"I don't care." Griffin said before telling the camera man and Jett to follow him outside the open doorway, considering the door was broken.

James sighed and ran a hand through his hair again. Logan and Carlos stood up from the couch and walked over to James. "Hey don't let his words get you down." Logan said.

"Yeah, we're dancing today, that should be fun, so just think about that." Carlos said cheerily.

James let out a small smile and Carlos and Logan patted his shoulder before they walked out of the room to follow Griffin.

This left James and Kendall alone in the open area. Kendall chuckled after a moment of silence. "Oh what now?" James was not in the mood to deal with Kendall's insults.

Kendall put down his tea on the counter and walked right up to James and got up in his face. "Can't get rid of me that easily."

"Well I guess I'll have to beat you the old fashion way." James told him. "By winning this competition."

Kendall looked James up and down and let out a noise of disbelief. Because Kendall was so close to James, he stared at Kendall's injured hand. He looked concerned again and this confused Kendall. Slowly, he backed away and his hand in front of him as he turned his back to James and walked away. James merely sighed and stood where he was for a while until he felt his phone vibrate in his hand. James let out an aggravated and answered it as he walked back into his room.


	7. Chapter 7

**I know guys, it's been a month since I've updated, but I'm trying! I'm the idiot who decided to write three stories at the same time, I know, I'm sorry! Not to mention university is kicking my butt right now. Ugh. If only I had time to write for you guys instead of cramming in a paragraph here and there within the span of like a week. *Sigh* Anyway, enough of my complaining. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and are enjoying the story so far. **

**Warning: Kendall will obviously be talking nasty, like always.**

* * *

Ch.7

After a long conversation with his dad, that could have ended a lot sooner, James managed to convince his father to not drop everything and go to the Palm Woods to pick him up. Mr. Diamond was still not very happy about the situation and about James oversleeping, but he decided that if Griffin of all people reluctantly gave him a second chance, he would reluctantly do the same.

James sighed and actually felt like pulling his hair out after he ended his phone conversation with his father. James might not have had much of a backbone when it came to talking to his father, but ever since he left his house he learned to stand his ground and it always caused him stress. Ironically, James still felt love for his father, despite all of the terrible things he did and all of the verbal, and sometimes physical, abuse. Even though James did not consider his father to be a great one, he still believed that he did do some good in his life. After all, he did help him out with all those lessons and he drove him to his auditions; he just went overboard on occasion.

However, what drove James over the edge and made him angry was the comment his father ended their conversation with. Before James hung up, he heard his father say, "Well good luck in the competition son. If I like it, I'll vote for you."

James felt like punching in the wall and he probably should have considering, the whole apartment had a lot of damage because of Kendall. _Kendall_, James thought, just to make things worse. Not only did he not like his father, but he also had strange feelings for Kendall. It was like an unexplainable level of hatred, but at the same time, James was worried about him. His odd behavior that night and even in that particular morning, Kendall was scared to let James see his hand. It was as if he was afraid to let anyone get near him or touch him.

"Whatever." James eventually muttered under his breath after thinking about Kendall for a while. He ran a hand through his hair and then remembered that he still had not gotten completely ready to go to the dance trials. Griffin and everyone else, even Kendall, were waiting for him and he already wasted a good five minutes talking to his father after they all left. James sighed having a feeling that this day was going to be another long one. He wiped his face before going to his room. He finished changing his clothes before he walked to the direction of the bathroom, but not before stopping by Kendall's room.

He did not know why he stopped, but something inside him made him stop there before he entered the bathroom. James glanced over to the door that was slightly ajar. He knew that he was already making everyone wait, and that he should have just entered the bathroom to finish getting ready. However, he felt his legs slowly travel over to Kendall's door. It was as if James no longer had control of his own body as his arms raised up and pushed the door all the way open.

James closed his eyes, having control over that part of his body, believing that curiosity was causing everything he was doing. However, he also remembered the old saying _curiosity killed the cat_, and was afraid to open his eyes and actually see what Kendall's room was like.

James tried to lock his knees to stop him from continuing on, but nothing worked. Eventually, James stopped himself and because he was in so much shock that he had stopped moving he opened his eyes. James instantly gasped in horror.

There was a small amount of clothes, ripped up and scattered everywhere throughout the room. One suitcase was flipped on its side with all the compartments open. A lighter was busted with lighter fluid spread right beside James's feet. What appeared to be a few personal belongings were spread all over the place and they were all in pieces. Also the complimentary furniture, like the bed frame, the mattress, a couple of vases and potted plants, a desk and a nightstand were all disorganized and either upside-down or turned over. There was even a hole in one of the walls but none of these were even the shocking thing.

The one thing that made James really scared and freaked out, was the complementary mirror closet everyone had. There in the center of the mirror was a shattered dent with a few fragments on the floor. James looked at the mirror in disbelief. He could not help but walk up to get a closer look just to make sure it was real. This was not a good idea though because when James got a closer look at the damage on the mirror, he noticed a little bit of blood on the floor and in the dent. That was when James remembered Kendall's bandaged up hand. He remembered how nasty and bloody Kendall's knuckles looked.

James became worried again, wondering why Kendall punched of all things a mirror. On top of that, he did run away from the apartment last night. What was going on with him and why was he behaving so aggressively? James wanted to inspect the mirror more, but he remembered he had somewhere to be.

James left Kendall's room as fast as he could, not bothering to close the door and entered the bathroom. James styled his hair, and brushed his teeth, but decided not to shave thinking that he was already late enough as it was, so he decided to skip that step. Once James did all of the things he thought were necessary, he left the bathroom and bolted out of the apartment, walking over the broken door on the floor.

James checked his cell phone and noticed the time. He took twenty minutes since the others left. "Dammit." James cursed under his breath and shocked himself for saying what he did. He just assumed he was thinking about Kendall too much. James tried to shake him out of his mind as he ran down the four flights of stairs he had to take to get to the lobby.

Once James was there, he relaxed a little bit when he saw both Logan and Carlos talking in the lobby area. "Hey sleeping beauty has finally arrived!" Carlos cheered.

"Yeah, but I've never seen sleeping beauty so hairy before." Logan joked.

James rolled his eyes, but still chuckled with the other two. "Ha ha, very funny." He sarcastically remarked.

"Oh joy." James turned around to see Kendall off to the side, sitting down with his arms folded next to Griffin, Jett, and a camera man. Neither Kendall nor Griffin were pleased to see James. Jett and the camera man could have cared less either way.

"Oh joy indeed." Griffin replied walking up to James, getting really close to his face, scaring him a bit. He was intimidating for a man his age. "Listen here Jonathan, as far as I'm concerned you have two timing strikes against you. If you're late or make me wait on you one more time, I will edit you out of this competition and make sure no one at Roque will ever even consider you for even a coffee runner job, you got it?"

"Well actually my name is Ja-"

"I asked if you understood." Griffin stated sternly.

"I understand, sir." James said shakily. Out of the corner of James eye he saw Kendall look to the floor and hold his injured hand. It honestly looked as if he wanted to punch Griffin for the way he was behaving. It confused James greatly. Was Kendall thinking about defending him or something else?

"Good." Griffin said sternly and backed away from James. "Okay everyone, let's go to Roque records!" He stated cheerily, shocking all of the contestants because he changed his tone so quickly.

Logan looked to Carlos, who merely shrugged before he followed Griffin on the way out. Logan sighed and decided to follow them. James was about to walk when both the camera man and Jett shoved passed him. James glared at the two, but then Kendall passed him. James saw Kendall hold his injured hand and ran up to him.

"Hey." James stated softly. Kendall ignored him. "Hey!" James said a little louder and Kendall continued to act as if James did not exist. "Hey!" James repeated a third time and actually caught up with Kendall and but his hand on the shoulder of the slightly shorter boy.

Kendall swatted James's hand away. "What the hell's your problem?" Kendall shouted.

"Oh Kendall, I love your energy, but save it for when we get to Roque records." Griffin chuckled.

He was about to take that last step to exit the building when suddenly, a voice shouted "Wait just a minute!"

Griffin stamped his foot and pouted before turning around. "No more waiting!" He complained.

When everyone turned around they noticed that Mr. Bitters was shouting and running down the stairs. "Wait just a minute, who's responsible for all of the broken Palm Woods property in 2J?" When Mr. Bitters finished asking his question he noticed Kendall chuckling. "You." He glared and pointed to Kendall. "It had to have been you."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Kendall denied everything.

"I'm talking about the broken door and all the damage to the room that looks like it belongs to a street urchin." Mr. Bitters explained rudely.

"What did you call me?" Kendall did not like being referred to as a street urchin and shoved Mr. Bitters, who stumbled back a bit. Kendall held his bandaged up hand. His eyes showed that he was in pain.

Mr. Bitter's eyes just showed rage. "That's it Mr. Knight, I am kicking you out of the Palm Woods for good!" He shouted.

"Good!" Kendall responded quickly. "I hated this shitty place anyway."

"Kendall, let me handle this." Griffin brushed passed him and walked over to Mr. Bitters. "Reginald, is it? Why don't you and I have a conversation in your office, okay?"

"Fine, but you won't change my mind." Mr. Bitters stated, still glaring at Kendall, who was making a face at him of equal ugliness and anger.

Griffin chuckled, "We'll see about that." The two of them walked inside of Mr. Bitters private quarters in the lobby, leaving the contestants alone as well as Jett and the camera man.

Kendall huffed and punched the air. "Stupid prick." When he spun around he noticed that everyone was staring at him. "What?" He shouted and quickly everyone averted their eyes, except for James. "What are you starting at?" Kendall shouted again.

"Your hand." James involuntarily answered and it made Kendall take a step back.

"What?" Kendall asked in shock.

James sighed and decided to walk closer to Kendall realizing he was already in too deep for even responding to Kendall's explosions of rage. "Your hand, it's injured." James stated.

James eventually got close enough to reach over to gently touch Kendall's hand. Kendall instantly backed away from James's touch like he normally did. "So, I get into fights. What's the big deal?"

"With yourself?" James responded, causing some of the others to look over to their conversation.

"What are you talking about?" Kendall was in denial again.

"Don't lie to me." James said quickly, but still keeping a subtle softness in his voice. "You and I both know that I saw your hand all bloody last night."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Kendall quickly spat.

"I also know about the mirror." James told him. Kendall's eyes went wide.

"What mirror?" Logan was now getting invested in the conversation.

"Film them." Jett said and the camera man turned on his clunky, big, and black video camera on.

Kendall started to look worried, but only for a brief moment. "You-You went inside my room?" He angrily accused.

"I didn't mean to." James stated. "My legs were acting all weird and-"

"Shut it douche bag!" Kendall shouted. He looked over and saw the camera was filming them.

"Look, Kendall. I don't know why, but I'm concerned about you."

"Bullshit!" Kendall then shoved James.

"Look Kendall, I think he's just trying to help." Carlos spoke.

"Stay out of this!" Kendall pointed at him. "As for you, I know your lying to me. I know your plan, remember?"

"I abandoned that plan!" James shouted back.

"What plan?" Logan was confused.

"Ooo! This is getting good!" Jett was getting excited.

"Just shut up!" Kendall yelled.

"Look I'm just trying to help-" Kendall had had enough of James's voice and decided to punch James in the jaw.

"Ow!" James exclaimed and held where he was injured.

Kendall smirked, "I finally got you to shut up."

James was thinking about tackling Kendall, feeling anger build up inside him when suddenly both Griffin and Mr. Bitters exited out of Mr. Bitters's office. "Everything has been taken care of boys. You all have a Palm Woods day." Mr. Bitters sounded strange, as if he was forcing happiness.

"Alright, let's all step into the limo contestants." Griffin noticed that the camera man was filming Kendall and James and that James's jaw was starting to bruise. He decided not to ask about any of it because it was already close to eight-thirty and they still were not at Roque records. "Come on. Chop, chop!"

As everyone left to go inside the limo, Kendall gave James a look as if to say he was watching him. James just shook his head, not caring. He wondered why he was ever concerned about Kendall in the first place.


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry I haven't been updating this story for a while, and I apologize for it being kind of short. I've been busy with university and I'm writing for 4 other active stories and everything is just crazy right now. I promise the next chapter will be longer, but please don't give up on me. I will be working on this story when I can!**

* * *

Ch. 8

"Whoo, Yeah!" Carlos cheered obnoxiously as he stuck half of his body out of the open roof window of the long, black, and glossy limousine. "I'm in LA, bitch!" He screamed excitedly at random people they drove passed.

Logan rolled his eyes as everyone laughed either with him or at him. Even Kendall could not help but smile slightly as he heard him. This intrigued James greatly. The camera man took this opportunity to film Carlos's joy and everyone's reactions. Griffin deeply chuckled, "Yes, whoo yeah indeed."

"Okay that's it." Logan could not stand seeing Carlos act like an idiot and pulled him back down to his seat.

"What the heck man?" Carlos complained.

"You were going to break something up there. And we already have one injured person here." Logan told him before pointing to Kendall, who just rolled his eyes and continued to look out the window by his seat.

"Hmmm. Logan has a point. Kendall's already hurt and if you got hurt, we would not be able to film the dance portion of the competition." Griffin agreed.

"See?" Logan pointed out. "Now stop acting so crazy around me. You're making me embarrassed that I know you."

Carlos had a perplex look on his face. "But you used to say that you loved me because of my crazy behavior."

Logan's eyes widen as everyone stared at him confused, except for Kendall, who could have cared less, and James, who was slightly distracted. Logan did not like having all of those eyes on him, especially since the camera was filming him, so he let out an awkward laugh. "He's joking, you're joking, right?" That last word escaped his lips in a very stern tone.

Carlos appeared to be disappointed in Logan. He sat back in his seat and folded his arms. "Whatever." He grumbled. Logan let out a sigh of relief and accepted Carlos's answer, as did everyone else.

As the car ride continued in silence, James could not help but stare at Kendall, who was resting his head against the glass of the window, staring off into the distance. To James, it actually appeared that Kendall was amazed and enjoyed the car ride over to Roque Records. This shocked him that Kendall could show some other emotion besides being annoyingly stubborn and angry. However, when the car drove past a motel James noticed that Kendall frowned and clenched his hands into a fist. Instantly, Kendall winced and hissed in pain, holding his bandaged hand.

"Are you okay?" James let his thoughts slip out of his mouth, letting Kendall know he was watching him.

Kendall merely glared in disgust, "Take a picture, it'll last longer, considering you have a weird obsession with me."

"I'm not obsessed with you!" James shouted, feeling offended, even though what Kendall said was kind of true. James did have a strange obsession with Kendall. He could not get him out of his mind. He was so mesmerizing to him and yet, he did not understand why this was happening to him. After all, he could not stand Kendall half of the time.

Kendall made a noise in disagreement. "Whatever you say." He smirked. James was getting angry and felt like punching Kendall in the face again.

Logan noticed that James balled one of his hands into a fist and instantly held him back. "Oh no, no fighting! Remember you're better than him. You will not stoop down to his level." Logan was always the voice of reason and it calmed James down a bit, but of course, Kendall had to make a remark.

Kendall chuckled, "Him, better than me? Oh that's rich. I'd like to see him try to be better than me. After all he was planning to backstab all of you guys like the little pussy that he is."

"What?" Logan loosened his grip on James slightly. James grinded his teeth in anger and almost tackled Kendall, who actually wanted him to do so, but Logan remembered what he was doing and grabbed James tightly once again. "No, stop!"

"No, let him go." Kendall continued to provoke James. "I want to see what happens when he's angry." He laughed.

"You're insane." Carlos commented.

Kendall merely shook his head laughing. "Dumbasses, all of you."

"Ooo, this is getting good!" Griffin had a mischievous grin on his face. "Steve, make sure that during the edits, we make it very apparent that there is a rivalry between Kendall and Jacob."

"Got it!" The camera man agreed.

"His name is James!"

James stopped struggling in Logan's grasp and froze in his place. He was in shock at what Kendall said. "What?"

"Yes, what?" Griffin repeated.

"I'm getting real sick of your attitude Griffin, treating James like shit all the time. I may hate him, but he is still a person. The least you could do is remember his name." Kendall was getting extremely angry, confusing James.

After all, Kendall very rarely called James by his actual name. It would usually be some sort of an insult. However, when Kendall did call him by his name, he always got it right. This action of defense was not helping James with his obsession. He had a feeling that this action was going to replay in his mind for a long time.

"Fine," Griffin stated, "Steve, make sure Kendall and James have a rivalry page on our website." He told the camera man and emphasized James's name.

"Uh, got it." Steve told him confused as to why Griffin agreed to Kendall's demands so quickly.

"Good, now stop this fighting. We'll be at Roque Records in about a minute." Griffin demanded. Everyone just stared at him. "Well, do you all agree?"

"Uh, yes sir." All of the contestants except for Kendall agreed.

"Good." Griffin told them before he looked out of the window. "Oh look, a butterfly!"

Carlos and Logan looked at each other strangely, wondering what they had gotten themselves into. Kendall seemed pleased with himself, smiling that he stood up to Griffin. As for James, he was confused. Why did Kendall stand up for him? He just admitted to hating his guts.

Kendall noticed that James was just staring at him like an idiot. "What?" He shouted.

"Uh, thanks." James told him, appreciating what Kendall did for him.

"Shut up." Kendall grumbled as the limousine pulled into the parking lot of Roque Records.


End file.
